This article is currently maintained under temporary RFCSR publication support until 13 June 2026.
My research at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar revolves around the chemical science of nanosheets – a class of nanomaterials whose thickness is equivalent to only a few atoms. When I joined IIT Gandhinagar, one of the scientific questions that intrigued me was: Can we design a material that is analogous to graphene, but rich in boron instead of carbon?
This question emerged from the fascinating chemistry of boron. Although boron is carbon’s neighbor in the periodic table, it differs fundamentally because of its electron-deficient nature. Unlike carbon, boron cannot independently constitute stable honeycomb networks similar to graphene. We thus began revisiting layered metal diborides such as MgB₂ from an entirely different perspective. While MgB₂ had been extensively researched for superconductivity, we wondered whether its layered arrangement, where magnesium atoms are sandwiched between boron planes, could provide access to boron-rich nanosheets.
“Boron-rich nanosheets can turn familiar materials into entirely new scientific possibilities.”
In our initial studies, we demonstrated that MgB₂ can indeed be exfoliated into ultrathin boron-rich nanosheets. This formed the first foundational step toward developing a new family of two-dimensional nanomaterials, which we termed “XBenes” where we showed that layered metal borides beyond MgB₂, such as TiB₂, AlB₂, and TaB₂ can also be exfoliated into sheet like nanostructures.” What made this journey particularly exciting was that every stage opened new scientific questions. For example, while establishing scalable methods for synthesizing these nanosheets, we discovered that MgB₂ crystals undergo dissolution followed by non-classical recrystallization through oriented attachment. This enabled us to develop high-yield synthesis approaches using simple shear mixing methods.
As we continued probing deeper into the chemistry of these nanosheets, we realized that their surfaces were not chemically passive. Detailed characterization revealed the presence of borohydride-like functionalities. We were curious to examine whether these could impart reducing behavior to the nanosheets. To our surprise, the nanosheets indeed displayed chemically reducing action, allowing us to assemble heterostructures with graphene oxide directly in solution. This was a fundamentally new way of viewing nanosheets not merely as substrates or fillers, but as chemically active entities themselves.
Gradually, our research started moving from fundamental science toward technological possibilities. We found that boron-rich nanosheets could impart exceptional flame retardancy to polymers, enhance hydrogen storage characteristics, improve ultrafast charging in battery electrodes, and catalyze reactions relevant to energy conversion. More recently, we observed that pristine defect-rich nanosheets derived from metal diborides exhibit the ability to chemisorb nitrogen under ambient conditions without external energy input. Such findings continue to reinforce our anticipation that boron-based nanosheets may provide access to several unconventional material properties.
Interestingly, some of our important insights emerged while investigating results that initially appeared anomalous. During studies involving ultrasonication-assisted exfoliation, we discovered that the organic solvents themselves could transform into photoluminescent carbon quantum dots. Similarly, we found that freeze-drying protocols commonly used for recovering nanomaterials can induce spontaneous nanosheet assembly of organic species. These observations reminded us that scientific protocols often contain hidden physical phenomena that remain unnoticed until one begins to question long-standing assumptions.
In my opinion, the future of nanomaterials research will depend not only on discovering new materials, but also on developing deeper mechanistic understanding of how chemistry evolves at atomically thin interfaces. Many emerging technologies in energy, sustainability, catalysis, and advanced manufacturing will likely require multifunctional materials whose properties can be tuned through controlled defects, surface chemistry, and nanoscale architecture. Two-dimensional boron-rich nanomaterials provide a particularly exciting playground in this direction because they combine unusual electronic structure with rich chemical versatility.
“Understanding materials at atomically thin scales can open doors to future technologies.”
Looking back, I realize that our work on boron-rich nanosheets continuously evolved through scientific curiosity. In many instances, the most meaningful directions emerged unexpectedly while pursuing something entirely different. While we are continuing to uncover several such phenomena, we are also gradually moving toward translating this science into people-serving technologies by developing scalable approaches to synthesize these nanomaterials. I believe that this interplay between curiosity-driven science and purposeful application is what makes research deeply rewarding. Every new material teaches us not only about its own behavior, but also about how much remains unexplored in the natural world.
